BlackRock's AI chip ratings project could take about a year, as HSBC's Roberts says lenders want higher payoffs on AI projects
Seoul's Kospi closed down 7.57% after a circuit breaker, as chipmakers sold off on U.S. inflation data. BlackRock's Fink says halting data centers means recession. HSBC's Roberts says lenders want higher returns first.
The Investor · Invest desk
Key figures: SK Hynix fell 11.06%; the Kospi closed down 7.57% at 5,554.22; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had slid 4.3% overnight.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK Hynix share fall | 11.06% | 11 | |
| Kospi fall at close | 7.57% | 9 | |
| Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slide | 4.3% | had slid overnight | 12 |
What happened
- September consumer prices rose 0.6% from August, the fastest monthly gain since April, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had already slid 4.3% overnight, Cryptopolitan reported.
- The halt lasted 20 minutes near midday and was the first such stop in Korea since late July.
- Samsung Electronics fell about 9.5%, SK Hynix 11.06% and the Kosdaq 7.65%, while foreign investors sold 3.62 trillion won ($2.68 billion) of shares.
- Anthropic told investors its third-quarter revenue was $16.8 billion, up 45% on the quarter, yet it lost more than $8 billion from operations, Cryptopolitan reported.
Why it matters
- What it costs cost Data-center developers and AI labs carry the bill, since a lender's higher required payoff lands as a higher borrowing rate or a smaller loan.
- Who has to decide decision Lenders must choose between waiting about a year for BlackRock's residual-value ratings and sizing AI-hardware loans without them.
- What doesn't add up contradiction HSBC sits on both sides: strategist Alastair Pinder told clients to stay invested in AI on rising earnings and lower valuations, while Roberts says lenders want more before funding.
- Who's exposed exposure Bondholders own the new paper: S&P Global's $225 billion of 2026 hyperscaler and related bonds, up 973.7%, implies a base near $21 billion a year earlier.
Seoul's selloff had an inflation trigger, so it is a thin test of Fink's thesis [12]. The Kospi closed at 5,554.22 after falling 7.57% [9]; that implies a prior close near 6,009 [15], and an intraday low of 5,450.81 that sat 9.3% under it [16]. Mirae Asset Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said the market is now sensitive to "whether massive infrastructure investment will lead to real income" [13]. Maybe. A rates shock and a returns doubt produce the same price action, and Cryptopolitan's account does not separate them.
Fink's side of the argument is built on a debt figure. National debt rose from $8 trillion in 2000 to $40 trillion, he said, a $32 trillion increase and a fivefold one [3][14], so growth has to come from private investment if GDP is to keep running near 3% a year [4]. The recession call is his, made on CNBC on Wednesday [1], and he called data centers "not the problem" [2]. BlackRock would also be the one writing the credit ratings and bundling the hardware into securities [5], so Fink is arguing for a market his firm plans to supply.
Roberts' complaint is about price. He said AI infrastructure projects now struggle to raise capital, because lenders and investors have grown warier and want bigger payoffs before they commit [7]. A higher payoff is what a lender charges for not knowing how long the hardware keeps its value, and BlackRock's project, which collects data on how long AI chips stay useful and how much value they keep, is built to supply that knowledge [5]. In our view the two men are less opposed than the pairing suggests: one describes today's price of capital, the other is building the instrument meant to lower it.
The counter-thesis is that a residual-value rating measures collateral, and lenders may be worrying about whether the borrowers earn money at all. Anthropic's reported operating loss, set against its quarterly revenue, is at least 47.6 cents per dollar of sales [19].
If the project takes the roughly one year Cryptopolitan reports [6], the allocation for that year is simple. Capital Fink wants pulled in stays with lenders who say it is scarce. We would be wrong if lending terms ease before any residual-value data exists, or if the ratings arrive and Roberts' lenders still ask the same payoff. A third outcome would make the day a rates story: inflation cools, the Kospi recovers, and AI lending terms stay where they were.
What to watch
- Whether BlackRock publishes any AI-chip residual-value data or ratings well inside its roughly one-year estimate.
- The next U.S. consumer price print: a second hot reading that hits chip stocks again would point to rates, not returns, as the driver.
- HSBC's actual pricing and loan sizes on AI infrastructure projects, which would show whether Roberts' higher-payoff demand is in the term sheets.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence50
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives65
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a CNBC interview on Wednesday that if the U.S. paused the building of data centers, the country would fall into a recession.
- [2]
Fink said data centers are "not the problem" but a source of jobs at a time when the U.S. is short of electricians, plumbers and welders.
- [3]
Fink pointed out that U.S. national debt climbed from $8 trillion in 2000 to $40 trillion today.
- [4]
Fink argued that growth has to come from private investment so GDP can keep growing at close to 3% a year.
- [5]
BlackRock is working on a way to finance AI spending by collecting data on how long AI chips remain useful and how much value they keep over time; it will then create credit ratings based on what the chips are still worth and eventually bundle the hardware into securities investors can buy.
- [6]
The BlackRock chip-ratings project could take about a year.
- [7]
Michael Roberts, head of corporate and institutional banking at HSBC Holdings, said money is now hard to come by for AI infrastructure projects because lenders and investors are growing more cautious and demanding higher payoffs before they back them.
- [8]
Two days earlier, HSBC's head of emerging market and global equity strategy, Alastair Pinder, told clients to stay invested in the AI trade, saying the bank was optimistic because of rising earnings and lower valuations.
- [9]
The Kospi closed down 7.57% at 5,554.22, after falling more than 9% intraday to 5,450.81.
- [10]
A circuit breaker halted the Korean market for 20 minutes near midday, the first such stop since late July.
- [11]
Samsung Electronics fell about 9.5%, SK Hynix fell 11.06% and the Kosdaq fell 7.65%; foreign investors sold 3.62 trillion won, or $2.68 billion, of shares.
- [12]
September U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6% from August, the fastest monthly jump since April, stoking bets on further Federal Reserve rate increases and dragging down AI-linked stocks; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had slid 4.3% overnight.
- [13]
Mirae Asset Securities analyst Seo Sang-young said the market is now sensitive to "whether massive infrastructure investment will lead to real income".
- [14]
The rise in U.S. national debt from $8 trillion to $40 trillion is $32 trillion, a fivefold increase.
- [15]
A 7.57% fall to 5,554.22 implies a prior Kospi close of about 6,009.
- [16]
The Kospi's intraday low of 5,450.81 was about 9.3% below the implied prior close.
- [17]
S&P Global counted $225 billion in bonds from hyperscalers and related firms in 2026, a 973.7% jump.
- [18]
Anthropic told investors its third-quarter revenue hit $16.8 billion, up 45% from the previous quarter, but it still lost more than $8 billion from operations.
- [19]
Anthropic's operating loss is at least 47.6 cents per dollar of quarterly revenue (a floor, since the loss exceeded $8 billion).
- [20]
A 973.7% jump to $225 billion implies a comparison-period base of about $21 billion, which the source does not name.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cryptopolitan.comFink says keep building AI as HSBC's Roberts demands higher returns
1 article · October 15, 2026
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